


Just Dance!

by Emme2589



Series: Just Call And I'll Be There [5]
Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Canon-Typical Violence, Dancing, Drugs, Fluff and Angst, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Past Drug Use, Post-Henry Stickmin Series: Completing the Mission, Psychological Trauma, Romantic Fluff, Silly, Singing, Slow Dancing, Songfic, Special BROvert Ops Ending | SBO (Henry Stickmin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27586096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emme2589/pseuds/Emme2589
Summary: Henry finds himself in a bind, and he can't get out of it using conventional means, so he decides to get through it by following his heart, and helping Charles along the way.Or: The time Henry tried to dance himself out of a situation, and it actually worked.
Relationships: Charles Calvin/Henry Stickmin
Series: Just Call And I'll Be There [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011435
Comments: 7
Kudos: 115





	Just Dance!

_"Henry, you okay? I lost you there for a second."_

Henry kicked in the vent as he entered the next room, thankfully empty this time, "Fine."

_"Okay. You know what to do if you can't speak. Oh, and watch the hallway. Lotsa baddies."_

"Yeah."

The special covert ops were on a mission to bust a drug ring. It was so bad that Henry was wearing a gas mask to prevent cocaine from hitting his lungs, as there was so much spread around everywhere that he could end up inhaling some by accident. How you even get this much coke in one place without going bankrupt was beyond the both of them, but nevertheless, it never hurt to be careful.

_"Okay, so the next room should bring you to the ventilation system. The, like, you know. The controls. Try not to break it, though. In fact, you need to fix it as best you can."_

"Why do I need to do that?"

 _"To clear out the drugs, obviously."_ Charles' voice took on a teasing tone, _"We don't have enough gas masks for everyone it would take to make all these arrests, so we really need to make sure they won't be inebriated. Uh. For that."_

Right. Well, Henry wasn't about to complain, but he did have a concern about _how_ to fix the ventilation system. He wasn't exactly known for fixing things. In fact, he was way better at breaking things, but there's a first time for everything, right?

He made it to the ventilation maintenance room, swinging the door open and squinting through the mist. He flicked on the light, and his eyes burned with a phantom pain behind his goggles. This room was clogged with what looked like marijuana plants, the white dust coating every surface and the floor littered with dirty needles. It made a pit form in his stomach.

_"Henry?"_

Henry snapped out of his stupor, "Right. Sorry." he navigated through the room, gingerly sweeping the needles off to the side with his foot and closing the door behind him, "Jeez. This really brings me back."

_"Brings you back? Henry, are you okay?"_

"Fine." Henry shook his head, "Just...just stay with me, okay? Your voice, um...it helps."

_"No problem, Hen. Um...whaddya want me to say?"_

"Anything. Just like sing if you want." Henry stopped in front of the terminal, "Just let me hear you."

Charles wasn't in any of those bad memories, so if he could hear him, in theory, he wouldn't fall back into them. He wouldn't lose himself.

_"Well, okay. Just lemme know if you want me to stop, yeah?"_

So, as Charles began to hum a tune in his ear, Henry began to inspect the ventilation system, switching it off and waiting for the noise to stop before opening it up. Beneath the maintenance panel was what appeared to be a white brick, so Henry pulled it out, setting it aside and wiping his hands off on his pants in disgust. The whole thing was clogged, black with smoke from something burning, though all that remained now were smouldering ashes. It appeared that the clogging was intentional, the main fan in the machine unable to spin due to all the leaves.

Charles' voice really helped. As Henry focused on freeing the fan from its weedy prison, he found himself humming along to the song. His mic was on, so he knew Charles could hear, and as Henry hummed the notes for the melody, Charles picked up the harmony.

Finally, the fan blades were clear, so Henry closed the maintenance panel and hit the power button.

It worked. The system whirred to life, and the dust and smoke began to clear as the fans kicked in. Henry headed out into the hallway as Charles stopped humming.

_"Okay, Hen. The baddies here know something is up. You'd better hurry."_

"Yeah."

_"Do you want me to keep humming?"_

"Please."

Henry found a sink in the old bathroom so he could wash the offending drugs off his hands and clothes, splashing water over himself and then standing in front of one of the massive ventilation ducts. It wicked the moisture away, and it made him feel so much better.

_"Okay, Hen! Now you just need to open some windows, and we'll be ready to perform these arrests!"_

"Thank god."

He did, opening every window in the whole building, mostly from the outside to stay out of the criminals' line of sight.

_"You done? Alright! Come on out and we-!"_

The feed cut out, replaced with nothing but static. Henry fiddled with the earpiece, hoping his device was just malfunctioning rather than...

"Charles?" Henry took the earpiece off to see it. The green light was on, and the other lights were off, indicating that it was functioning properly, "Charles, please answer! Please!"

Nothing. Just static. No Charles.

Henry sprinted around the building as fast as his legs could carry him. The far side of the roof had been destroyed, containing Charles' broken helicopter, caved in from the top and falling over the hole created in the brick.

Henry's stomach pooled into his shoes. He ran back inside, reinforcements still too far to simply wait, and the drug dealers inside were no doubt thirsting for his blood. He wouldn't stand for that. He'd sooner kill himself than let Charles die.

He burst into the room, planning to carry Charles out through the hole in the roof, but he soon realized that would not be possible. The hole was completely filled by the helicopter, scraping and holding onto the rafters in the ceiling like tangled steel spiderwebs. Charles scrambled out of the chopper as the criminals chased him out, and he fell across the steel shelves along one wall until he hit the floor. He didn't get up. The room as a whole appeared to be a dilapidated basketball court, but there were no hoops or bleachers. Just the painted wooden floor, coated in an old cracked layer of vanir.

"Charles!" Henry lunged forward, but his ankle put up resistance.

He'd hit a trip wire.

_"Oi! D'sensors're on! Get outta de buildin'!"_

_Sensors?_ Henry looked to the many sensors in the room. When he stayed still, the sensors deactivated, and a countdown started on a timer over a glowing set of wires. However, when he began to move, the countdown stopped.

A failsafe, he realized. The building had been set for demolition, and the sensors were added to prevent people from dying in a possible explosion. That meant if they stayed still, the sensors would think the building was empty, and thus, go along with the scheduled demolition on the newly-activated electronics.

Charles was frozen like a deer in the headlights. His headset was crumpled, explaining why the feed had cut out. Henry tore his gas mask off as he pocketed his headset, and his hand brushed up against something in his pocket.

He pulled it out. It was a remote.

Smiling devilishly, Henry hit a button on the remote, and speakers throughout the vast room blared to life. They played an old disco song that he recognized from bars owned by organized crime families, from before he went good. He swayed from side to side, loosening up in time with the music, shuffling his feet, sliding, spinning and dipping.

Charles glanced between the bombs, the speakers, and Henry's smooth movements across the floor. Reinforcements wouldn't arrive for another five minutes, but the demolition timer only had one minute and four seconds left on it. He must have recognized the sensors, seeing the timer stop while Henry moved, and he shakily got to his feet.

"Come on, Charles!" Henry put his hands on his hips as he tossed the remote aside, "Dance with me!"

Charles seemed to come to the conclusion that Henry's way was the only way out. He also realized that Henry couldn't keep moving constantly, and even a second of stillness could end up killing them if it happened too often, especially if reinforcements didn't get here in time.

So, Charles began to stiffly move.

"Hey! Don't sweat it, okay?" Henry moonwalked across the floor, sliding closer to Charles as he reached out between sweeping gestures, "Just follow my lead!"

As the tone of the song continued to climb, Charles began to smile, as his nervous glances confirmed that the sensors were on and the timer was frozen. He copied Henry's movements, rolling his shoulders and stepping back and forth like he was freestyling a game of DDR. The timer still didn't move.

They got closer to each other, step by step, and as Henry boldly danced across the floor, Charles found himself dancing with more confidence as well. As the song hit a crescendo, Henry jumped forward, and Charles met him halfway. Henry clasped his hand in Charles', taking his waist while Charles took Henry's shoulder. Henry led him into a quicker version of a waltz, stepping back and forth and swinging him around, his sneakers squeaking on the polished floor.

"Whoa!" Charles was a little shaky, but he was keeping up just fine, "You're good at this!"

"Thanks!" Henry twirled him, their hands above his head, "I used to dance every day when I was a kid. It feels good to finally do it again."

"Yeah? H-how am I doing?"

Henry swung Charles out so they were both spreading their arms, facing the same direction, "You're doing great. You wanna know something? I've never actually danced with a partner before."

"You haven't!?" Charles sidestepped to meet Henry's moves, "Then how do you know what to do!?"

"I don't! I'm just winging it!"

Charles laughed as he let himself be twirled, the music picking up once again. Charles led Henry into a dip, and Henry quickly retaliated by taking Charles' left hand in his right, walking in a circle around him after straightening up from the dip. Charles then stood on his toes, responding to the move by simply letting Henry turn him around like a ballerina, if a ballerina wore rubber-toe sneakers on a drug ring basketball court. Henry pulled him closer, and Charles yanked on him in turn, pulling him close to his body so they could spin faster.

The song ended just as the reinforcements arrived, and the two men stayed in their ending pose, both hands clasped in both others, just a few inches apart as they stared into each other's eyes.

"Wow..." Charles shyly retracted his arms as he stepped back, "I can't believe that actually worked!"

"Hey, you've seen me do weirder things to escape from a situation." Henry replied, "We just don't always get to do things _my_ way."

"Oi. What the bloody hell are you two doing?" Rupert was with the reinforcements, his finger off the trigger of the sniper rifle he always carried, "What happened? Were you two dancin' like a couple-a kids at 'omecoming?"

Charles blushed, his hands over his mouth, "Hey! D-don't look at _me!_ It was _Henry's_ idea!"

"What _should_ I have done, Rupert?" Henry gestured to the demolitions team that had deactivated the countdown sequence, led by demolitions expert Amelia "Turtle" Esteban, "You recognize these failsafe sensors, don't you?"

"You would have needed to keep moving to stop the bomb from exploding." Turtle filled in for him, "If they did that by dancing, then so be it. At least it confused the criminals enough that they didn't get to run far even after they left the building."

Rupert cocked his head, "Huh? What kinda wanker makes sensors like _that?"_

"Maybe we should just explain it to the general..." Henry took Charles' hand, "In any case, our job here is done. I hope I never have to see another drug again in my life."

***

Charles didn't think too hard about what Henry had said. How he seemed to freeze up upon seeing the drugs. He didn't think too hard about it because he still didn't know everything that Henry had been through. Henry was covered in scars that he never talked about, but Charles could see the haunted look in his eyes as he traced those scars with one finger. Charles made it a habit to avoid touching the scars too much, but when Henry's arms were showing because he was in a short-sleeved shirt, or when he was shirtless while changing, he saw them. Henry knew that he saw them. He didn't seem to mind when he looked, but he would always tap a finger to his lips as if to say, _"Please don't ask. Don't ask where I got them. I can't talk about it yet. Don't ask. Please."_

So he didn't. He knew better than to push him harder than he was comfortable, and he knew Henry would talk about them when he was ready, but that didn't mean he never wondered.

These were the thoughts that ran through his head as he unlocked his apartment and opened the door. He closed the door before he saw what lay beyond it.

Henry was standing in the living room, dressed in a black tux with a turquoise tie and sparkly cufflinks. He'd cleared the furniture out of the way to make room, and he had his phone out on the end table, connected to two tall bluetooth speakers.

Charles was so stunned, he didn't move, his hand still on the door.

"Um...hey." Henry scratched the back of his neck, "If it's okay...I wanted to have a proper first dance with you."

Charles thought his heart was going to explode. He sucked in a breath through his teeth, touching his face to feel the warm skin beneath his fingers.

"Oh, yeah, Hen." Charles forced the air out of his lungs, "Yeah, just, uh...gimme a minute, yeah?"

Henry laughed, picking up his phone as a distraction, and Charles disappeared into the bedroom.

Charles always knew he had strong emotions. He cried every time he watched Wall-E or Toy Story 3, and he was so excited sometimes that he would literally jump up and down like a puppy. He couldn't help himself, and he knew Henry was charmed by it, who by contrast had mostly muted emotions. He was calmer in comparison, and Charles appreciated Henry grounding him sometimes.

Now, though? Henry had tied a balloon to those emotions and let them rocket into the stratosphere.

Once Charles' thoughts had caught up with him and he'd found a way to calm himself, he headed into the bathroom to freshen up, since he was still dirty from the earlier mission and desperately needed a shower. Once all the dirt had been washed away, he pulled out the suit he usually saved for banquets and other formal events, still nicely pressed from the last time he'd had it dry cleaned. He buttoned the shirt up to his neck, popping the collar before putting on the matching slacks and suit jacket.

By the time he reemerged in the living room, Henry had set his phone down again. He made eye contact with him, and they both smiled at each other. Charles was wearing a spare headset, and a bow tie around his neck in his preferred red color.

His nerves frayed again as he stepped closer and Henry held out his hand, "You ready?"

Charles gently set his hand in Henry's outstretched one. He didn't know exactly why, but the action felt more intimate than usual.

"Yeah."

Henry pulled him closer, his other hand ghosting over Charles' hip, "You don't have to, you know. You can say no. I promise I won't be offended."

"No, I know, it's..." Charles' side tingled where Henry was holding him, "I want to do this. I'm just afraid of messing it up, and I've never seen you in a suit before."

"I look nice, I know." Henry guided Charles' hand to his own shoulder, "You look nice too. I love the bow tie."

"Thank you."

Henry held Charles' other hand up, "If you're nervous, don't worry. I'll lead."

He broke away briefly to pick up his phone again. He tapped around until a slow melody came through the speakers. Charles recognized it too. It was one of his favorite songs.

"I know you know this one." Henry returned to his position, one hand in Charles' with the other around his waist, "I think of you every time I hear it."

As the first verse started, Charles let his forehead rest against Henry's as Henry guided him through a slow series of steps, moving in a circle around the living room. There was no complexity to the dance. It could hardly even count as one. They were just moving together to the sound of the music.

_"There I was again tonight, forcing laughter, faking smiles, same old tired lonely place. Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes and vacancy, vanished when I saw your face, all I can say is it was, enchanting to meet you."_

Once the song began to pick up, Charles found himself quietly singing along to the lyrics. He can't help it. It's one of his favorites.

Henry noticed it, and he whispered, _"Louder."_

_"Your eyes whispered, 'Have we met?' Across the room your silhouette, starts to make its way to me. The playful conversation starts, counter all your quick remarks like, passing notes in secrecy. And it was, enchanting to meet you. All I can say is I was, enchanted to meet you."_

Henry wrapped both arms around Charles' waist to make him move faster, and Charles' steadied himself on Henry's shoulders. His nervousness was dissolving. He should have known he wouldn't make a fool of himself. They were just having fun, plain and simple.

_"This night is sparkling, don't you let it go. I'm wonder-struck, blushing all the way home. I'll spend forever wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you."_

It took a moment to realize that there was another voice in the song. Charles opened his eyes from when he'd shut them in anxiety. Henry's mouth was moving.

Henry was singing!

_"The lingering question kept me up, two am, who do you love? I'm wondering til I'm wide awake. And now I'm pacing back and forth, wishing you were at my door I'd open up and you would say, 'Hey, it was, enchanting to meet you.' Oh Taylor I was so, enchanted to meet you too."_

Charles broke out of his stupor, a wide smile on his face, and their movements became more erratic as they sang together in harmony, both versions of the song bursting from them like they were the only two people on earth.

_"And this is me praying that; This was the very first page, not where the storyline ends, my thoughts will echo your name, until I see you again! These are the words I held back, as I was leaving too soon, I was enchanted to meet you (too)!"_

Charles sang, _"Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waitin' on you."_

And in turn, Henry sang, _"I was never in love with someone else, I don't have somebody waitin' on me."_

And together, they finished on, _"Cuz you were all of my dreams, come true. And I just wish you knew, Taylor I was so in love with you."_

They giggled awkwardly before falling into silence. Charles' heart was beating quick in response to the exercise, but in his head he was completely calm. Henry's voice was deeper than his own, and so it made sense for him to take the higher part, and he loved the way their voices sounded when they harmonized like that.

"I've never heard you sing before, Henry."

Henry blushed, "I don't sing, really. I think I just got caught up in the moment."

"You sound amazing."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"You do! I'm not just saying that!" Charles moved his hands from Henry's shoulders to his face, "Can I kiss you?"

"Charles, you don't have to ask."

So, he kissed him, and Henry held him closer, still holding him around his waist.

"Hey, Henry..." Charles' arms settled around his neck, "Feel free not to answer...but why did the drugs unsettle you so much until I started humming?"

Henry always tensed when Charles said _"feel free not to answer"_ like that, because chances are, he would follow it up with a really personal question. This was no exception.

Henry bit his lip, "Why do you think, Charles? That was more drugs than I'd _ever_ seen all in one place. The last time I've been near so much, it was when I was still a criminal."

"Oh."

Henry always seemed incredibly vulnerable when he opened up about his past, to the point where being awake for his own open-heart surgery would make him feel less exposed. Charles wanted to wrap him up in a massive hug every time he saw that haunted look in his eyes, wishing he could buff out the scars in his heart until it was new and trauma-free. Unfortunately, a wound like that couldn't be treated with bandages and pain meds, as much as he wished it were that simple.

"It really changes you." Henry rested his head in the crook of Charles' neck, "When you have to comfort someone going through withdrawal who's convinced he has bugs crawling under his skin, and there's nothing you can do. You just have to wait it out."

A tear landed on Charles' collar, and he wrapped both arms tightly around Henry's back.

Charles inhaled slowly, "Did you ever...?"

Henry sighed, his breath causing goosebumps to rise on Charles' skin, "Sometimes. When you've been cold and hungry for two days and it happens to be an option, it's hard to turn it down. Never did meth, though. I've never known anyone who tried it and didn't get addicted."

"God, Hen, that's so..." Charles pulled him back to look at him, and Henry wiped his tears away with his wrist, "Why didn't you tell me? You didn't have to go on this mission."

"No, I _wanted_ to." Henry insisted, "I don't want it hanging over me the rest of my life. Besides, I have you, and you always make everything better."

They truly did come from two different worlds. Henry grew up in the city, barely scraping by and stealing as a necessity just to stay alive, while Charles grew up in a rich neighborhood in a small town in the countryside, where he'd actually met adults who didn't believe that poverty even existed because they were so sheltered. Charles had the luxury that drug rings and poverty were just a distant threat, something he never had to think about, but Henry had lived it. He'd seen it first-hand. He knew the pain of betrayal, of starvation, of using illicit substances just to stave off the pain for a short while.

"You know..." Henry smirked slyly, "I'm glad I stole that diamond."

"Oh?" Charles nuzzled into him affectionately.

"Yeah. It put me on the general's radar. If I hadn't done something drastic like that, I never would have met you."

Charles stepped back to hold Henry's hands. The glittering cufflinks reflected rainbows in the low light through the windows. It didn't surprise him. Henry was drawn to shiny objects like a magpie, and he'd even said himself that he had expensive taste.

"I sometimes wonder how things would go if we met under different circumstances. How old are you?"

Charles actually had to think about it for a second, "I'm twenty eight. Why?"

"So we're the same age." Henry nodded, something akin to nostalgia on his face, "Imagine if we had grown up together. Would you still love me?"

"I guess it's hard to say for sure." Charles tapped his chin, "But _I'm_ sure I would. We have chemistry, and there's just so much about you that I adore."

"Aw. Feeling's mutual, Charles."

Charles touched Henry's hand as it reached for his cheek. His sleeve rode up a bit, revealing a clean-cut scar on his wrist, too straight to be unintentional. There was a pang in Charles' chest as he looked at it. It was clear Henry had a lot of secrets, but that was okay with him. He didn't need to talk about everything. Charles was patient, and he wanted to help however he could, but even if Henry never said anything, he wouldn't push his boundaries. He loved Henry no matter how much he'd been put through the wringer.

He was so curious, but the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt the man he loved even more.

Charles placed a soft kiss on the scar, and Henry tensed up again.

Charles backed off, "Sorry."

"No, it's..." Henry replaced his sleeve, "It's fine. Just shocked me is all. Thank you for dancing with me."

"Thank you for letting me dance with you." Charles took his hand again, "Hey, I'm not gonna force you to talk, okay? _Ever._ You can keep your secrets. I'll still love you no matter what. And hey, if you ever wanna dance with me again, just say the word, yeah?"

Henry beamed, his smile lighting up the room, and Charles offered another hug.

Henry squeezed him, his arms shaking with his silent cries.

_"I love you, Charles. Thank you for loving me."_

***

**Author's Note:**

> In case you didn't recognize the song, it's Enchanted by Taylor Swift, with a response called Enchanted by Owl City, because I'm already writing about a romance between gay sticks so I'm going to have fun with it dammit. Hope you enjoyed reading it in any case.
> 
> Come say hi to me on tumblr! marshemillow.tumblr.com


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